McMillan says yes, but Russell Broadbent won’t support same sex marriage
 Baw Baw News   By // 17:44, Thursday 16 November 2017

Russell Broadbent has said he will not support a motion for marriage equality despite a majority of voters in his electorate wanting him to.

Image: Mr Broadbent with Victoria’s first out female MP and marriage equality campaigner Harriet Shing. Photo by author.

Almost 63 per cent of the Liberal MP’s electorate, McMillan, voted in favour of allowing same sex couples to marry in the recent national marriage law postal survey.


ADVERTISEMENT

That result was below Victoria’s average of 64.9 per cent, but above the national average of 61.6 per cent.

Mr Broadbent today told ABC Gippsland he intends to vote no or abstain from voting when legislation to allow same sex marriage reaches the House of Representatives.

Requests from the Baw Baw Citizen for comment from Mr Broadbent went unanswered, so here’s what Mr Broadbent told the ABC:

“I’m not unsure of how I will vote,” Mr Broadbent told Jonathon Kendall.


ADVERTISEMENT

“I’ll either abstain or vote no, but it’s likely I’ll abstain.

“My position on this has been well known by my community for forever, for as long as I’ve been the member.

“I note the very strong vote in McMillan for same sex marriage based on the position of equality, and I dare say that if you ever put a proposition to an Australian about equality, you’re on a hiding to nothing because that’s in our DNA, and I expected the vote we received.”

Audio: listen to ABC Gippsland’s interview in full by hitting the play button above.

Asked why he would not be voting yes in light of this, Mr Broadbent said that was “because of a long-held position on this particular issue.”

“I was one of the 36,500 in my electorate [who] voted no in the survey.

“I expect the parliament… will respect the Australian vote, and it’s likely the representatives will probably vote 60/40 or 70/30 for the legislation.


ADVERTISEMENT

“I will not be obstructionist, I understand and respect the will of the Australian people as voiced through this survey, but at the same time I have a long-held standing position on this.”

Asked if he was respecting the views of his electorate by abstaining despite support for a yes vote, Mr Broadbent said yes.

“I believe that I am because I can also represent the 36,500. I represent them as well, not just the the 62 per cent. I also represent the 36,500 [who] voted no.

“I look at each proposition as it comes forward.”

Jonathon Kendall went on to ask what Mr Broadbent meant when he said he will not be obstructionist.

“I won’t be obstructionist in that, as has been proffered by some, that they will be trying to wind back anti-discrimination laws in the process.”

 Get free email updates from the Baw Baw Citizen 

 Read more Baw Baw News  

9 responses to “McMillan says yes, but Russell Broadbent won’t support same sex marriage”

  1. Werner says:

    Guess who I will NOT be voting for.

  2. Simon says:

    NOVEMBER 16 2017 – 2:28PM
    Labor MPs to ignore huge ‘no’ votes in their multicultural electorates

    Eryk Bagshaw James Massola

    Labor MPs across western Sydney – and in two Melbourne seats – will defy the will of their electorates and vote “yes” to legalise same-sex marriage in Parliament.

    [Editor’s note: we have shortened Simon’s comment, which consisted of the first four paragraphs of a Sydney Morning Herald article, for copyright reasons. You can read the full article at the link below.]

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/samesex-marriage-result-huge-no-votes-in-multicultural-electorates-20171114-gzlm0o.html

  3. Martin says:

    He is our representative in the australian parliament, he has the job of representing us even if he doesn’t like it. If you don’t want to do your job then you should not be doing it you should step down.

  4. Richard Gaede says:

    Mr Broadbent when in Parliament and acting as an MP your vote is to represent your perception of the view of the majority of your electors, NOT YOUR PERSONAL VIEW. Your electors have clearly demonstrated by due democratic process how they want you to vote. Your hands are tied. You have no choice but to vote Yes, unless you want to clearly tell your electors that your personal views are more important than their democratic will.

  5. Sarah Sharpe says:

    So much for a representative democracy.

  6. John Doe says:

    And this is the exact reason why he should NO longer be representing his electorate, as he is clearly well past his “best before” (or “use by”) date.

  7. Darlene says:

    As a previous supporter of Russell I am very dissapointed to hear he will be voting no in parliament against same sex marriage.
    I have admired Russell for his stance on many other issues, most notably the stance he recently took on the refugee issue. I cannot however support him, if he chooses to go against the clear majority of the very electorate that voted him in to represent them fairly in parliament. He is only doing himself a disservice at the next election when his electorate show their distrust, betrayal, disappointment and frustration by not supporting him because of this one bad, yet very important decision!

  8. Roger Marks says:

    Russell is right not to vote for same-sex marriage. Already the lies of the yes promoters are coming out of the woodwork as they clamp down on freedom of speech and religion before the ink is dry on the paper.

    If it becomes law, it will be the biggest mistake the Parliament has ever made because Bill Shorten is committed to removing ALL exemptions if he becomes PM.

    That means what has been legal forever and a day will suddenly become illegal and citizens who have been law-abiding forever and a day will suddenly become criminals because they opened their mouth and spoke in defense of male/female marriage.

    It is happening overseas so it will happen here.

  9. Roger Allan Marks says:

    I am pleased that Russell still has a conscience. If we are to go by what is happening where same sex marriage is already legalised, you will not be allowed to exercise your conscience as it will be anathema to those who want to foist there way of life on normal law abiding citizens.

    Dean Smith’s Bill only gives exemptions to registered clergy. The ordinary citizen is not allowed to say no to same sex marriage and when Bill Shorten becomes PM he has promised to remove all exemptions from the Act so churches wil be forced to marry two men.